Towns near Barrick Gold mine demand their US$28.3M cut

Santo Domingo.- Hundreds of community leaders and residents of towns impacted by Barrick Gold’s mine at Pueblo Viejo (central) gathered Monday in nearby Cotuí to demand that president Danilo Medina and Congress the allocation of 5% of the profits which the government receives.

In the activity organized by organizations grouped in the “Campaign to develop mining communities,” from the towns of Maimon and Piedra Blanca demanded that Medina and legislators comply with the environment Law, which orders that 5% of net profits from mining activities is delivered to surrounding communities to invest in development projects and mitigation of impacts.

“It’s a shame that naturally rich communities live in poverty, and whose basic needs go unmet. Our communities are among the poorest in the northern region,” said the nun Luisa Suarez, head of the Training Center for Women, CEFORMOMALI, who served as spokeswoman.

Suarez said the community and farmers organizations form part of the campaign to ensure that each peso of that 5% is used to develop projects and not end up in the hands of corrupt politicians “as in other occasions.”

According to figures provided by the organizers, until 2014 the government had failed to hand over more than RD$1.3 billion (US$28.3 million) to the mine’s surrounding towns for extracting and exporting gold and other valuable metals.